The Average Life of a Pokedex Holder
by Melodious-Nocturne3
Summary: ... when they're not running around trying to save the regions from total destruction and instead trying to be as normal as possible. As least, as normal as you can get with romance abound and Blue's devious plots everywhere. Mostly one-shots. Features Special, Oldrival, MangaQuest, and FranticShipping.
1. Nightmare

**Disclaimer: Pokemon Adventures is clearly not mine. If it was, I would be releasing volume 43 in English already.**

**This first one-shot will be mainly Red x Yellow, with hints of other ships.**

**For this one, the Unova and Sinnoh Dex Holders will not be included, as they haven't met the other Dex Holders yet when this one-shot takes place. Everyone's ages in this story are about what they are in Emerald.**

* * *

_Thunder. Lightning. The sound of rain deafening to her ears as her dirtied purple boots pounded against the cracked asphalt. The cries of her friends desperately calling out to their Pokemon as they did the same beside her._

_"Hydro Cannon!"_

_"Blast Burn!"_

_"Frenzy Plant!"_

_Yellow ran, ran for her life, ran for the helicopter with the wide open door waiting for her and the rest of them only a kilometer or two away. Their chance at survival, at getting out of this terrible, terrible mess. She quickly glanced back at the chaos ensuing behind her and immediately wished she hadn't._

_A horde of both people and Pokemon were pursuing her and her comrades, their dull, unseeing eyes burning with an insatiable hunger. Zombies. All desiring to devour Yellow and her fellow Pokedex Holders whole. The ultimate moves, powerful as they were, served to only dent the undead mob, knocking off a few of the creatures permanently but were quickly replaced with double of what had just been there._

_She could hear her panting breaths, hard and exhausted. They had been running... How long? Days? Weeks? Surely not months? Memories of their losses flashed through the young girl's mind. Most of their Pokemon had been the first to go. In fact, Yellow was pretty sure that all that remained of their original teams now were their partners, the Pokemon they were quite possibly the closest to. For most of the Dex Holders, it was the 'starters' their respective professors had given them._

_She clutched Chuchu to her chest even tighter than she already was, ignoring the Pikachu's weak squeaks of protest. She remembered losing Kitty, then Omny... shuddered when the image of zombified Dody, one head hanging limp, came to the forefront of her mind._

_Green had been devastated when one day, early on, they had spotted Professor Oak among the hordes of the undead while they had been temporarily taking shelter on a rooftop. Red, Blue, and Silver together had to physically restrain him from jumping down there after his grandfather._

_Crystal had been devastated when Emerald had been overrun by a pack of zombified Pokemon. Yellow felt guilty that she couldn't remember where, and yet she was so tired, her thoughts so sluggish. She knew that Gold and Silver had been her pillars of strength, shoulders to lean on during those hard times right after Rald's death. Especially Gold, who was supporting her right now as the group ran for the helicopter. Crys had sprained her ankle a few days ago, and it was still sore as it hadn't gotten a good chance to heal, with all of this running._

_Silver had been devastated when Blue had fallen about two weeks after the incident with Green. She went down fighting, and made sure she had died completely when she realized it was hopeless, made sure that she didn't become one of __**them**__, one of the zombies. Made sure when she had her Wigglytuff use Explosion, a move none of us knew her Pokemon could even use. This knowledge had been of little comfort to Silver, who now stuck by Green when he wasn't with Crys, for some reason. But Yellow couldn't try to figure it out now. She didn't have the time, or the energy, really._

_Sapphire had been devastated when Ruby threw himself off of a cliff, unable to take it anymore, this life that was barely a life on the run. And thinking that Sapphire had died when she had been separated from the group as they had tried to evade yet another zombie horde. Needless to say, she had found them again much too late._

_Now that Yellow thought about it, she was actually surprised that more Dex Holders hadn't been lost, or at least rendered completely defenseless by losing all of their Pokemon. She shook her head vigorously as she ran, trying to bring herself back to her senses. _Now isn't the time to **reminisce**_, she thought bitterly. The helicopter was only several yards away now._

_She hurried to her left to help Gold and Crys out, taking the limping girl's other side as she tried to smile reassuringly at the pair, to no avail. All Yellow could manage was a grimace._

_She could see, just ahead of her, Sapphire climbing desperately into the helicopter as she called Toro, her Blaziken, back into its pokeball. It was hard to tell, with the rainwater already streaming down her face, but the wild girl's red eyes and nose proved it. She was wishing Ruby was here with her, being rescued, too. Green and Silver were right behind her._

_Yellow, with Gold and Crystal, had almost made it when several zombie Pidgeys and Rattata, along with a person, burst out of a previously unnoticed alley close by the three. The blonde ponytailed girl (she had lost her straw hat a long time ago) shoved her comrades ahead towards the helicopter, yelling, "Go!" before releasing Chuchu from her arms as she prepared to face the zombies. Alone._

_Gold hesitated for a split second before nodding quickly at the brave young girl and ran for their only escape route, half-dragging, half-carrying a much more reluctant Crys. They soon got onto the air vehicle safely._

_"Chuchu, Thundershock!" Yellow commanded, watching her Pikachu shoot a small bolt of crackling electricity at the undead creatures stumbling towards them. It had virtually no effect, bright sparks dancing along the pale bloodless skin, fur, and feathers as the zombies continued relentlessly._

_As she took this in with wide golden eyes, Yellow suddenly came to terms with the fact that she was going to die. Right here, right now, with escape so close and yet so far. "Chuchu, go! You can still save yourself."_

_The small mouse Pokemon would be able to outrun the zombies easily and reach the helicopter. She saw the Pikachu almost immediately shake her head in disagreement, ragged and torn flower accessory about to fall loose. Chuchu then leapt into her trainer's arms, determined to die with her. Loyal to the end._

_Yellow felt the long-due tears well up, shaking her head in disbelief even as she held her Pokemon in her arms. She then closed her eyes, unable to hold back the tears as they fell and trailed down her cheeks, mixing with the rainwater. The blonde-haired girl was preparing to die, to feel claws and nails digging into her flesh and eating her alive._

_Then she felt someone shove her away from the undead creatures, knocking her into the ground several feet away. She heard someone yell, "Thunder!" and heard the bolt strike the animated bodies. The horrible smell of burning flesh filled the air before quickly being washed away by the heavy rain._

_Yellow opened her eyes, already scrambling up to her feet while clutching tightly onto Chuchu, to see Red facing several lumps of charred zombie with Pika crouched right beside him. He glanced back at her, smiling weakly. "Go. I'll hold them off."_

_Yellow looked past one of the first Dex Holders to see the original horde that had been chasing them. The huge pack of undead were alarmingly close. __"Hold them off? But..." Yellow croaked, voice breaking. She knew what Red was intending to do and shook her head vigorously in defiance. "No... no! You can't!" she cried._

_Red's smile became sad for an moment before he gritted his teeth and said forcefully, "You need to go, Yellow. Now. Or else." He didn't bother waiting for her to reply and instead ran straight for the zombies, Pika leaping onto his trainer's shoulder as his red cheek pouches glowed. Lightning flashed from the storm clouds above and struck the horde in the very center, obviously yet another one of Pika's Thunders._

_Chuchu cried out when she saw her mate head into battle, starting to struggle in Yellow's arms so she could scurry after Pika. But her trainer held on tight and fled for the helicopter waiting nearby. She was determined that Red's sacrifice not be in vain. Scrambling up into the air transport vehicle, Yellow turned to look out and at the horde of undead._

_Thunder. Lightning. The whir of the chopper blades deafening to her ears as it began to take off and fly to safety. And that was when she realized something._

_She had never gotten to tell Red her feelings for him._

_"Wait! Stop the helicopter!" Yellow screamed desperately, her words in vain as the takeoff was too loud for her to be heard. She attempted to jump out of the vehicle even as she wondered at the stupidity of the action, being pulled back from the exit by Green and Silver. Tears spilled and ran down her face.  
_

_"What are you doing?" the now ex-Gym Leader shouted in her ear, though he understood the urge perfectly. Since he was feeling it himself._

_But none of that mattered to Yellow. Not now that Red would die, not knowing that she had been in love with him ever since she had been eleven. That now he never would._

_She watched with wide eyes, struggling in vain against her comrades' grip, a blurry Red in the distance fighting against the zombies. Lightning crackled and large bolts struck the undead creatures surrounding him repeatedly, Pika in the air above him as his cheek pouches and tail glowed. A few moments later, the duo disappeared from sight as crumbling buildings obstructed the view._

_"Red! -"  
_

* * *

"- Red!"

Yellow's golden eyes, filled with terror, shot open to the sight of dimness and a white ceiling. Her breath came in fast and heavy, and she could hear her heart thumping quickly in her ears from fright. She exhaled shakily, trying to calm herself down. It worked a little, and Yellow was able to gather her wits and blinked several times, looking around as she attempted to remember where she was and escape from the grip of her nightmare.

Yes. That's right. She was lying in a sleeping bag at Gold's house, inside one of the many spare rooms the Johto Dex Holder had in his home. Everyone had gathered at his place for the fun 'meeting' Blue hosted every two months.

This time, she had planned a scary movie/sleepover night... for some reason. Yellow had no idea what went on in her friend's seemingly deranged mind that made her think this was a good idea. At least, the scary movie part.

The Sevii Islands girl had 'conveniently' gotten tickets to a zombie apocalypse movie (_Zombie Mew Strikes Again_, in case you were wondering) that had _certain_ people sitting next to each other and separated from the others. As in Sapphire and Ruby, Gold and Crystal, Green and herself, and then Yellow and Red. Red, of all people.

Needless to say, it had been an awkward night, even if you didn't take into account the fact that Yellow had been cowering fearfully in her seat almost the whole time and that the Dex Holders had gotten kicked out of the theater an hour into the movie after an insane food fight consisting of thrown popcorn and drinks emerged between Ruby, Sapphire, and Gold. (Don't ask.)

Once that fiasco had been taken care of, everyone had headed back to Gold's house and hung out for a few hours while eating ordered pizza for dinner. And by 'hung out', Yellow mostly meant battling, arguing, and taunting. Then, Gold's mom made them go to bed by the time it was about one in the morning in an effort to be a good parent for once and Blue, yet again, paired everyone up as she assigned rooms to sleep in. Silver and Emerald ended up in the same room since they had no one to be 'paired with'.

All of this went through the blonde-haired girl's mind in the space of a few seconds. Absorbed as she was in her own thoughts, Yellow was startled when she heard someone groan and roll over right by her.

Quickly glancing over at the source of the noise, she relaxed visibly and then blushed in embarrassment when she realized it had been Red stirring on top of his blanket. He had almost woken up because of Yellow's crying out while she had still been half-asleep. She let out a sigh of relief and rolled onto her side to be face-to-face with the slumbering boy.

Red's features were calm and peaceful, evidence that, unlike Yellow, he was actually having a good night's sleep despite the scary movie they had watched several hours ago. The red-and-white cap he usually wore had been taken off beforehand and his coal black bangs, hard to spot in the dark room, hung over his face in that cute hairstyle Yellow had always -

She blinked, her blush deepening in color as she quickly glanced away. Just what had she been thinking? Yellow was glad that the room's lighting was too dim for the bright red of her cheeks to be visible, even if someone had been awake to possibly see it in the first place.

She exhaled slowly for a few moments before looking back at Red, thinking now about her nightmare and its contents. The young girl shuddered from a growing dread, still seeing the images of dream Red's sacrifice clearly in her mind. If the Kanto Dex Holder gave himself up like that in real life, she didn't know if she would be able to bear it -

"Yellow?" came a soft whisper.

She froze in shock and embarrassment, her eyes suddenly meeting sleepy scarlet ones. While she had been deep in thought, Red had woken up, possibly from the sensation of being stared at. By Yellow, of course.

* * *

Red, even as drowsy as he was from just waking up, snapped to attention when he saw the lingering fear on the blonde girl's face. "What's wrong?" he whispered in concern, louder this time as he glanced around for whatever might be causing his friend's distress.

It couldn't be a thief or anything like that, because Red would have woken up earlier if it was. Also, you would probably be able to tell if someone was trying to rob Gold's place. It would be much louder for one, since the house was filled with tried-and-true Pokemon trainers, Dex Holders at that. No simple lowly criminal was going to get past this intimidating group, that was for sure.

"N-nothing," Yellow finally stammered, her eyes wide. In fact, Red thought her cheeks seemed a little... darker for some reason. _Must be a trick of the light._ "Just, um, thinking."

He focused on her face at hearing these words and frowned. Something was up. Well, at least he knew it wasn't because they were in immediate danger. Red propped his head up, chin resting on his hand as he gazed at his friend. His scarlet eyes were filled with skepticism. "Tell me what's wrong, Yellow," he said softly. "You know you can trust me."

Yellow hesitated for a moment before replying in a whisper, "It was just a nightmare, Red. Nothing to worry about."

"A nightmare?" Red immediately scowled, remembering the movie they had watched and Yellow whimpering in fear at every zombie while he had tried (and failed) to comfort her and assure her that humans and Pokemon being killed and eaten alive was not, in fact, that scary. "I swear, sometimes Blue just acts so -"

"It's fine, Red. Really," Yellow insisted quietly, giving him a weak smile. It almost turned into a grimace for some reason, and Red knew that no, it was not 'fine', at least when it came to his standards.

He sat up and patted the space on his blanket next to him. "Get over here," Red demanded almost playfully, flashing a small smile at the girl lying down and wrapped in a sleeping bag in front of him. "You're not alright, Yellow. You're obviously really shaken up," he pointed out in a low voice, impressed with himself that he managed to not be an 'oblivious blockhead' for once. Since everyone kept telling him that yes, he acted like one. A lot.

Yellow reluctantly crawled over to where Red indicated she should sit, though she was smiling a little. "Thanks, Red," she whispered quietly, glancing up at him. She hugged her knees tightly against her chest. After a few moments, she started speaking again. "It's just that - my nightmare..." Yellow sniffed, and Red had the sense that she was close to the verge of crying.

He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer in an attempt to comfort her. He could feel Yellow resist for a moment in surprise before relaxing. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Red said softly, squeezing her shoulders slightly. He had no intention of forcing the information out of her, but if Yellow was willing, Red had no objections.

"T-thanks," she whispered again, hesitating briefly before slowly resting her head onto Red's shoulder.

Red stiffened for a second in surprise, then forced himself to relax. After all, it helped make Yellow feel better. And, you know... it wasn't really that bad, having her lean on him like that. He squeezed the young girl's shoulders again, smiling in the dim moonlight that filtered into the room.

They sat like that in the silence for some time.

* * *

It was the crack of dawn, about six in the morning, when the door to Red and Yellow's room slowly creaked open. Dainty fingers (with the nails painted lime green) were visible clutching the edge of the door until it finally opened wide enough for Blue to poke her head inside.

She glanced around the faintly lit room fervently until her bright blue eyes fell upon Red and Yellow. The two were leaning into each other as they sat on a blanket, both fast asleep. Yellow's head was still resting on Red's shoulder.

Blue soon had a wide smile on her face as she took in the cute little scene. Disappearing from the cracked-open door, she returned a minute later and slipped inside, clutching another blanket. The devious girl gently placed it around the two's shoulders, thinking, _Let them wonder who came here and stumbled onto this little sight._ She giggled silently and then was barely able to hold the sound back when she saw Yellow snuggle sleepily against Red.

Sneaking back out of the room, Blue slowly closed the door behind her before pumping her fist, fiercely whispering, "Yes!" in triumph. She skipped off down the hall.

* * *

**If any of the characters are OOC, I apologize. This is the first time I have written about the Pokedex Holders, so I would greatly appreciate it if you could point out any mistakes I have made.**

**I will also be taking requests; majority rules. Unless I find a suggestion that is just too amazing to ignore. ;D Unfortunately, I do not do yaoi or yuri. I apologize for those who like pairings of that nature, but they just don't sit too well with me. You will have go elsewhere for shippings like that.  
**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~ Melody**


	2. On A Whim

**Disclaimer: Pokemon Adventures/Special does not belong to me.**

**As the title suggests, the plot for this just randomly popped up in my head while I was reading and I decided to put it into writing. Nice and short, for all you Oldrival fans. Features Blue and Green.**

**Ages are about right after Emerald.**

**Oh, and Green is male, Blue is female, just to make sure no one gets confused.**

* * *

A Charizard slowly lowered himself down onto the grass, beating his dark orange wings lightly to keep the Pokemon - and the rider - from plummeting and quite possibly injuring themselves. As the dragon-like Pokemon landed in the clearing before a large, white building, someone slid off of the Charizard with a grunt.

Green hit the ground with a quiet thump, almost automatically sticking his hands into his pockets as he glanced ahead at the building. The Viridian City Gym. He'd been gone for some time, and Green had decided that it was time to start taking charge of the place more often. His team had reached the level where training against wild Pokemon wasn't going to get them much farther (even if the battling was constant) and real Trainers, however weak they may be, would pose more of a challenge.

"Charizard, return." There was a _boomp _as the large Fire- and Flying-Type disappeared back into his pokeball. Green caught it without even looking behind himself and stuck it back into his pocket.

_It seems like I won't be needing my hologram for a while,_ Green thought as he strode towards the front door of his Gym, reaching out his right hand to turn the doorknob. He swung it open -

- and blinked as his Arcanine, beaten and close to fainting, skidded to a stop near the doorway. _What._ Green looked up to peer into the dim confines of the building. It seemed that he had interrupted a battle. The Gym Leader could see a shadowy figure commanding their Pokemon, taking out his reserve team rather quickly.

Green didn't necessarily want to interfere, seeing as there was a Trainer actually worthy of the Badge for once. (every time he had been here to accept a challenge, the opponent had always been disappointing) So he just stood at the open entrance, watching with hidden curiosity and a straight face. Every once in a while for the following few minutes, Green nodded in approval as he spotted a powerful strike or a clever strategy from the mysterious Trainer. He crossed his arms as he did so, waiting patiently for the end of the battle.

Finally, Green's Exeggutor fell to what appeared to be a Granbull and his hologram presented the Gym Badge to the challenger. The person snatched it from the pedestal after returning all of her Pokemon and held it between the index finger and thumb, eyeing it for a moment before smirking in satisfaction and tossing it over her shoulder. It clinked against the wall behind her and fell to the floor.

It's safe to say that Green was thoroughly shocked. No one just threw away a Badge like that, not unless...

"Who are you?" he called out into the room, narrowing his bright green eyes in suspicion. He took a step inside, trying to get a better view. The light entering the Gym through the open doorway illuminated Green's back, showing his sillouette and casting a long shadow.

The mysterious Trainer glanced over with a surprised jerk of her head before smiling widely and happily skipping over to him, where he could make the person out clearly.

"Oh, hey, Green!" Blue greeted cheerfully, waving with her hand held halfway up.

Green felt like slapping his forehead in exasperation and pure annoyance. "What are you doing in my Gym?" he almost-growled, thinking of all the things Blue could have gotten into while inside the building.

Blue pouted at him, crossing her arms to imply an attitude. "What, I can't come here and challenge this place?" she asked in a shocked and hurt tone. "It's much better training than I usually get."

The Viridian Gym Leader groaned almost inaudibly, about to retort scathingly when he realized that Blue had basically just complemented him. But before Green could recover from his momentary surprise, Blue hopped up to him and pecked him on the cheek (as if on a whim) with a bright grin.

"Thanks for the nice practice, sweetie!" she exclaimed as she brushed past him and strode out of the Gym, releasing her Jiggly and swinging herself onto the inflated pink Pokemon in one fluid motion. "Bye!" Blue called out behind her as she floated away atop her Wigglytuff into the cloudless sky.

Green just stood there, blinking at how fast the girl had just went by. _What the...?_ Finally, he entered the rest of the way into his Gym, closing the door behind him, and headed into a back room; his office. Flicking the light switch on, he sat down heavily into his chair and groaned again, loudly this time, as he resisted the urge to bash his head against his desk. "Pesky girl," Green muttered to himself irritably, sliding out his keyboard and turning his PC computer on.

But there was a slight smile on his face.

* * *

**Please point out any OOC-ness! That way, I will be able to correct it in later one-shots.  
**

**Read. Review. All that jazz. 'Till next time!  
**

**~ Melody**


	3. Being Immature

**Disclaimer: Pokemon Adventures/Special is not mine.**

**Thanks to Junior the Otaku**** for suggesting this nice little plot bunny!**

**Ages are about almost a year after HGSS. Features MangaQuest as it is in my head-canon, with possible hints of other ships, though they're slight and uncommon and you could take them either way.**

**By the way, I will use the Pokemon nicknames that sound the best to me. So I will probably be using a mish-mash of English and Chuang Yi translations, and maybe Japanese as well. It depends.**

**Warning, to those people who get concerned about these things: there is occasional cursing, with the serious words, not 'darn' or 'heck'.**

* * *

The dusty smoke soon cleared to reveal an exhausted Gold standing in the intense sunlight (Sunny Day), breathing heavily as he leaned against a tree trunk with one hand. His goggles, smeared with dirt and ash, were being worn around his burning amber eyes and his other hand gripped his billiard cue as he used it to support himself like a cane. Gold glared challengingly at his opponent, lifting his cue to point it at the person. The rubber end was steady, which inwardly surprised the Dex Holder. His arm felt sore as hell.

"Is that all you got?" Gold shouted with a confident smirk. "Because I'm not quite finished." He glanced at his Pokemon, who crouched several feet in front of him on the battlefield.

Explotaro looked just as exhausted as his trainer. Scratches and streaks of dirt marred the Pokemon's fur and Gold guessed that bruises were probably forming on his Typhlosion, hidden by his pelt. The proclaimed Breeder gritted his teeth in private irritation, realizing that he was, in fact, probably finished.

There was a laugh of amusement and a _boomp_ as a Pokemon was called back. "You should know when it's time to call it quits, Gold. Didn't I teach you that on Mt. Silver?" A certain red-and-white capped young man caught his pokeball with a gloved hand as it flew back to its trainer, eyeing the Venusaur encased within for a moment before nodding in satisfaction and sticking it into his pocket.

Red grinned cheerfully at Gold. "Training is over." He tossed him something.

Gold snatched it out of the air with his free hand, straightening up, and peered at it curiously. It was a Max Potion. "Thanks, Red," he called out, his voice losing the challenging tone as he realized that the fight was over. Gold then treated Explotaro's wounds with the medicine before returning him to his pokeball.

"So where are you headed now?" Red asked, strolling up to the Johto Dex Holder with his hands in his pockets.

Spinning his billiard cue as it shortened, Gold shrugged. He wiped his goggles clean and snapped them back onto his cap, replying, "I guess I'll go over to the Prof's lab. Super Serious Gal's supposed to be helping the old man with his research, so I'll surprise her."

Red frowned and gave him a significant look. "Just what do you mean by 'surprise her?'" he asked suspiciously.

Gold wasn't listening, though; he was too busy running for a wider space in the small clearing and tossed a pokeball into the air, releasing his Togekiss. "Sorry, can't hear you!" he shouted as he leapt onto Togetaro. "I gotta go!" And with that, the Pokemon and his trainer took off into the sky and left the Kanto Dex Holder behind.

Red just stood there for a moment, watching Gold slowly disappear from view, before shaking his head in amused exasperation. "I swear, sometimes that guy acts crazier than me and Blue combined. And that's saying something," he commented.

* * *

There was a loud bang as the door to Professor Oak's lab slammed into the wall, having been kicked open by Gold. He jumped into the room, billiard cue a-twirling. "Never fear, my beautiful fans!" he shouted aloud. "The amazing (and quite good-looking) Gold is here to brighten your day!"

This exclamation was met with stone cold silence.

"Hmm?" Gold recomposed himself and glanced around the lab, quickly scanning the shelves and desks. The place was clearly devoid of people. "Guess no one's around. Weird. Super Serious Gal said she was working here," he mused to himself.

After a few moments of thinking, he noticed that was, in fact, faint sounds of speech coming from the back of the lab. Tiptoeing across the room with exaggerated motions, Gold soon came face-to-face with a door apparently leading out back. Peering carefully behind the curtains hanging in front of a nearby window, he could soon make out Crys talking to Blue outside.

_Well, no wonder they didn't hear me. Hey, if they don't know **I'm** here, then that means..._ Gold grinned devilishly to himself. _Time for the eavesdropping to begin._

**. . .  
**

"...research previously on Mt. Moon and the moonstones found there actually revealed that you can find any type of stone there." Crystal continued to ramble about what she, Professor Oak, and occasionally Green had been working on recently. "Fire stones, thunderstones, you name it. It's just that normal trainers are so inexperienced with finding them that -"

Blue interrupted her. "So Crys, how's your relationship with Gold?" she asked. "I heard you guys went out on a date recently."

Crystal blinked, surprised at the sudden turn the conversation had taken. "Umm. Well, it's really - hey, wait! How did you know about our date? I thought I had kept it secret!" she asked suspiciously.

A wide grin stretched across the Kanto Dex Holder's face. "I don't know," she said innocently. "Though let me give you a bit of advice: whenever you want to keep something hidden from me, never let Silver know."

"Tch." Crystal looked seriously annoyed. "And after I put my trust in that guy, too. Well, he's asking for it!"

Blue coughed politely. "Ahem. So, your relationship? What do you like about Gold?" she prompted.

Crystal was jolted out of a short reverie about how she was going to exact revenge on Silver. "Hmm? Oh, well... Gold can be a pretty nice guy occasionally, though his entrances leave something to be desired," she said darkly. "And his politeness. All throughout our 'date', he kept flirting with any girl that passed by while his manners..." The Johto Dex Holder shuddered. "Don't get me started on that."

"So," Blue mused, taking in this information for later use, "he's basically a messy, impolite snob that you like?"

Crystal sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. It's just, he can be so immature sometimes that it gets on my nerves and embarrasses me. Quite often, I find myself wishing that I could just disappear whenever he acts like that."

**. . .  
**

Gold frowned, pulling away from the window and letting the curtains fall back. "Is Crys being serious?" he asked, not using his nickname for her for once. You see, the 'great and amazing' Gold was actually worried. _Worried._ He sighed. "Yes, she probably is. After all, Crys is always serious."

After a moment of moping, the Dex Holder brightened up again. "I know just the thing to do to change her opinion about me!"

He dashed out the front door (which had been carelessly left open) and, slamming it closed it behind him, Gold pulled out his skateboard from his backpack and tossed in in front of him. He leapt onto it and hurriedly rode off, never knowing that he had missed a crucial part of Blue and Crystal's conversation.

**. . .  
**

_"But..." Crystal hesitated, seeming to think over what she was about to say._

_"What is it?" Blue prodded, curious about this new development.  
_

_Crystal sighed and smiled slightly at her senior. "The funniest thing is, even with all his flaws, I wouldn't want Gold to change one bit."_

_Rethinking it for a moment, she then corrected herself. "Well, maybe if he stopped flirting with others so much and fixed up his manners a little. But you know what I mean. Gold's personality is part of what makes me like him, even if it annoys me to no end. You understand, right, Blue?" she asked._

_Blue thought about it with a slight frown, thinking about Green's stoic nature and Red's pure obliviousness. She smiled knowingly. "Yes, I completely understand," she said._

* * *

A loud crack rang through the air as wood met wood. "Alright, guys, you all know what I called you here for," Gold said in a commanding tone, having just smacked his billiard cue against the table he was pacing behind to attract everyone's attention.

"Actually, we don't," Silver pointed out, sitting on the couch with an eyebrow raised and looking thoroughly annoyed.

A befuddled and confused Red nodded in agreement as he sat on the other side of the couch, while Green remained silent as always. He watched Gold with his arms crossed and half-hidden eyes narrowed, leaning against a nearby wall.

Gold proceeded to ignore Silver as if he had never said anything. "You see, I was on my way to the Prof's lab for a surprise visit when I came across Super Serious Gal and Blue talking. I accidentally overheard some of their conversation -"

"'Accidentally' my ass," Silver muttered under his breath.

"- and Crys told Blue that she couldn't take my impoliteness and terrible manners," Gold continued, cracking his billiard cue against the table again as he stopped pacing to look at the three with a determined glare. "So you guys are going to help me impress her with my 'new-found' maturity."

Green had a slight scowl on his face and he raised his eyebrows questioningly. "And why are we holding this meeting in my living room again?" he asked, already resigned to the crazy plans Gold came up with quite often.

The Dex Holder in question proceeded to also ignore Green. Instead, he turned to look at Red. "You're one of the oldest guys here. I'm sure you have a lot of experience being mature and impressing girls."

There was silence in the room. If there had been any crickets in the house, they would have chirped.

"Are you serious, Gold?" Green asked with a straight face. He gestured towards Red, who had an expression that clearly said 'wait, you're talking to me?' "This is the guy who was so absentminded that he never figured out Yellow was a girl for almost two years," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "And you expect him to be knowledgeable in this?"

Red nodded quickly in agreement, not taking any offense from Green's statement because it was perfectly true.

Gold sighed exaggeratedly. "Fine, fine. What about you, then, Green? Arceus knows you have a huge fan club that mobs you whenever you so much as go outside." He gestured to a window, which had its shades closed. This was because a fangirl had discovered where Green lived and had been taking photos of the inside of his house through the windows while gaping at the Dex Holders within the whole time; that is, until Silver had shut the blinds in annoyance.

"Do I look like the guy who's gone out on a date before?" Green responded darkly, eyes narrowing again. Red opened his mouth as if to say something, but the Viridian Gym Leader shot a murderous glare at him that effectively shut the proclaimed Battler up.

With anyone else, Gold would have retorted, 'Why yes, yes you do,' (In fact, he knew for certain that Green had taken Blue out numerous times, if only because of the constant blackmail) but he was afraid of invoking the wrath of the very first Dex Holder. Instead, he just remained silent and mutely turned to Silver. "You have any experience?" he asked.

"No," Silver immediately replied, voice hard. "And don't bother asking again."

"Oh, come on," Gold protested, tapping his billiard cue on the table impatiently. "You're like, the most polite guy I know. Even if you don't act that way to me. I bet Blue taught you how to be nice and stuff, so why can't you teach me?"

Silver grumbled under his breath, "Because I don't want to."

"What was that?" Gold asked innocently, even though he had clearly heard what his fellow Dex Holder had said.

He sighed in exasperation. "Fine," Silver snapped, irritated and resigned. He knew better than anyone else that once Gold got going, there was no safe way to stop him. "I'll be over at your house tomorrow afternoon at 3. Got it?" And with that, he stood and left the house before anyone could respond. To his credit, he didn't slam the door behind him, instead closing it quietly.

"Sheesh," Gold said, pausing in the table-tapping. "You'd think I asked him to kill Blue or something. Or talk to his father."

Green just slowly shook his head while Red sweat-dropped.

* * *

"Alright. Your first assignment is to read this book." Silver tossed him something from where he stood by the entrance to Gold's room.

Gold, sitting on his bed, just let the book land with a thump beside him before picking it up to inspect the cover. It read _Maturity for Morons_. He sputtered, pretending to be insulted. "'For morons?' You think I'm a moron?" he asked, a hurt expression on his face.

"Shut it," Silver replied, ignoring his friend's act. He leaned against the side of the doorway and crossed his arms. "I got caught by Crystal in the bookstore, so this is all I could get before she started bugging me about telling Blue the fact that you guys went out on a date." He let out an amused huff. "She was so distressed, she didn't even notice what kind of book I was buying."

Gold immediately lost the hurt-dignity look and glared at the red-haired boy standing in front of him. "I can't believe you told her about that!" he exclaimed, having forgotten about overhearing that until now (What with having a much more serious problem on his hands). "Don't you know what Blue could do with that information? She's probably plotting something right now - hey, wait. Super Serious Gal was distressed that you let it leak?"

Silver nodded in confirmation. "But just because she was mad at me for blabbing doesn't mean she likes you," he pointed out.

There was a long sigh from Gold. "Yeah, I know," he said, surprisingly calm again. The Dex Holder waved the book from side to side, front cover facing Silver. "So I'm supposed to read this, huh?"

"Yes."

"But you know I don't like reading."

"I know you don't like doing _anything_ unless it's in self-interest, so you should enjoy this book. Call me once you've finished it and we can set up the next meeting."

Gold then quickly flipped through all of the pages until he reached the back of the book. Setting it down into his lap, he announced, "I'm done. Now let's get to the real deal."

Silver had to resist the urge to bash his head against the wall. "I'm serious, Gold. You need to read that book." he said.

"And I'm being serious," he replied with a straight face.

Silver gave up and left.

"Hey, wait! I was just kidding!"

* * *

_Almost two weeks later, 6:00 pm..._

Gold adjusted his tie nervously as he stared at his reflection in the mirror, though he may have looked confident on the outside. His usual gold-and-black cap was missing, along with the goggles, and his hair had been fixed up to be less messy and spiky. Unfortunately, it had been in that style for so long, it was impossible to neat up completely.

After several days of rigorous practice with Silver (And surprisingly, Green; only when he could bear it), he had finally decided that Gold had gotten the best he could ever possibly get. His manners had improved a lot, at least when he tried, and he had finally broken the habit of flirting with random girls (Again, mostly only when he tried).

So now, here Gold stood, secretly anxious about this date and the fact that he was wearing a frickin' suit. But _apparently_, they made good impressions on girls. He grumbled at this thought, silently swearing to himself that afterwards, he would kill Silver for making him suffer this torture.

Walking down the stairs instead of hurrying because it would wrinkle his suit (Wait, why the heck was he even concerned about something like that?), Gold shouted to the kitchen, "I'm going out, mom!"

"Alright, honey, just be sure you come back before midnight!" was her reply.

Exiting, Gold stood in front of his house in New Bark Town for a moment, staring at the road ahead. "Damn it, why can't I drive yet?" he muttered to himself. Instead, he released Togetaro and carefully got on, still wondering why he was so worried about the condition of his clothing.

"Okay, Togetaro," the Johto Dex Holder said. "To Violet City; more specifically, Super Serious Gal's house!"

They took off into the darkening sunset-lit sky.

* * *

_More than two hours later, about 8:20 pm..._

Crystal sighed in satisfied delight, walking along the dim beach shore of Olivine City with Gold. She was wearing an outfit similar to the one her mother had made her wear during the Arceus fiasco, though with a skirt instead of shorts and relatively fancier. All the work of her mother. The two were hand-in-hand and had forgotten about that detail a long time ago. "This was such a nice night," she commented, turning to look at the boy to her left with a smile.

Gold grinned back, happy that this date had actually worked out great. "I completely agree, Crys," he said in reply, remembering Silver's first lesson: never use your nickname for her in her presence.

"There's just one thing..." Crystal trailed off with a frown, looking away and towards the dark ocean as it splashed quietly against the sandy beach.

Gold glanced over worriedly at her. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's just... Something's been off about you all night," Crystal accused, looking back at him with narrowed blue eyes. "_You_ picked _me_ up instead of the other way around, you paid for our meal at the restaurant - which was fancy instead of cheap, by the way, unlike the usual - you didn't flirt with our waitress like last time, and you're even wearing a frickin' suit!" she exclaimed, stepping aside as she let go of Gold's hand and gesturing at his attire almost wildly. "In fact, there were so many differences from the usual you that I even lost track of them!"

"I'm glad you share my feelings," Gold muttered aloud after a moment, smiling wryly.

Crystal raised her eyebrows. "Now seriously, tell me what's up," she demanded. "You have been acting weird for the whole date and I would like to know why."

Gold was tempted to just remain silent in an effort to keep the secret of his eavesdropping safe when Crystal gave him a glare that clearly promised death if he _didn't blab right now_. He sighed. "I was trying to impress you," he said reluctantly.

She waved a hand as if to say 'go on,' looking at him questioningly. There had to be a reason why he was trying to impress her.

"I overheard you at Professor Oak's lab about two weeks ago talking to Blue - okay, _eavesdropped_, happy now?" Gold asked sarcastically, responding to the suspicious look Crys had given him when he had used the word 'overheard.' The two of them had come to a complete stop now.

Continuing, he said, "I heard you say to Blue that you didn't like me because of my immaturity and terrible manners, so I tried to get better in order to change your mind about me." Gold's voice had trailed off into a mumble by the time he had reached the end of the sentence, acting completely different from the usual him now as he stared down at the sand.

Crystal was stunned. Stunned and rather touched that Gold had cared that much about her opinion of him. After a moment, she took his hand again and squeezed it reassuringly, smiling when he looked up at her in surprise. "If you'd listened to that conversation, why didn't you hear the rest of what I said?" she asked.

"What?" Gold asked, now thoroughly confused.

Her smile grew wider as Crystal realized that he must have stopped paying attention out of worry after hearing the first few words. "I had said," she explained, "that even though I do wish that you could change sometimes, in the end, I would always want you to be _you_. If you were someone different, I wouldn't like you nearly as much."

"Really?"

Crystal nodded, her voice sincere. "Really."

Slowly, but surely, a huge grin stretched across Gold's face and he whooped in happiness, jumping up into the air and yanking Crystal's hand hard. She almost fell to the ground. Of course, in his intense feeling of victory, he didn't even notice.

"Okay, okay, calm down." She tried to hold back a laugh and failed miserably. "Just because I believe that now doesn't mean I won't possibly change my mind about you in the future," Crystal teased playfully.

"Uh huh," Gold said, clearly not believing her. He released his Togekiss and gestured to it with a exaggerated motion, half-bowing. "Shall we go then, Super Serious Gal?"

Crystal rolled her eyes but nodded in agreement with a smile. "Sure, why not?"

**. . .  
**

After landing in the front yard of her house in Violet City thirty minutes later, Crystal got off of Gold's Togekiss with his help, hitting the soft grass with a quiet thump. She looked over at him.

Gold jerked his head towards the house with a slight smile on his face. "Welcome home!" he announced.

Crystal smiled back, stifling a giggle. Wow, what was wrong with her? "Thanks for the date," she said, walking up to him so they stood only a foot or two apart.

"No prob, since it was in my self-interest and all."

She huffed in half-annoyance, half-amusement. "See you later then," Crystal said, pecking Gold on the cheek.

At least, she would have, if it wasn't for Gold purposely turning his head at the last second to make their lips meet. Needless to say, it was surprising. And actually, quite a nice sensation for the both of them.

"Gold!" Crystal exclaimed. "For Mew's sake, what did you do that for?" Her irritation would have been taken more seriously if she hadn't been out of breath.

Gold grinned devilishly. "Oh, come on, I know you liked it," he teased. "And I thought you liked me being myself, because that was exactly what I was doing."

Crystal then proceeded to kick him in the stomach. Hard.

* * *

**Wow, this one is the longest one-shot I've written so far. I hope you enjoyed it, and as always, feedback would be great! See you next update!**

**~ Melody**


	4. Mall Mob

**Disclaimer: Pokemon Adventures/Special is not mine.**

**Thanks to Rainpath5466 for suggesting a Frantic fic, which led to me coming up with this. I hope you like it. cx  
**

**Features Ruby and Sapphire, sometime between Emerald and HGSS.**

**Warning: Occasional cursing, both serious RL (real life) ones and improvised with Pokemon, is included in this one-shot.**

* * *

Someone's Pokegear started ringing as they tried to sneak through the trees towards a Nuzleaf standing alone and munching on a Berry. Alerted, the Grass- and Dark-Type glanced around in fear and quickly ran off into a patch of thick bushes. The person cursed aloud and yanked it out of their pocket. Once seeing who it was, she started grumbling about how often he just had to call her while she was busy. She then picked up the call.

**. . .**

"Sapphire, get over here."

"Why should I?"

"I'm taking you with me on a shopping trip."

"No."

"Why not?"

"'Cause malls are borin'. Also, you'll just make me try on clothes an' stuff because they 'look pretty on me.'"

"I promise I won't, Sapphire."

There was a snort. "That's what ya said the last time, Ruby. An' the time before that. An' the time before that. An' the -"

"Alright, alright, I get it! I'm being honest this time, I swear it. Now will you come?"

"No."

There was a moment of silence on the other line. "Sapphire, if you don't come voluntarily, I will be forced to take aggressive action."

"If ya mean 'battle me', then go ahead! I'll kick your sissy little butt, anyway."

A pause, then a sigh. "Fine, if that's how you want it." The line went dead.

**. . .  
**

"Ruby?" Sapphire shook her Pokegear roughly in confusion and looked back at the glowing white screen. It indicated that the caller had hung up. "Ruby, if yer tryin' to scare me, it's not gonna work. It'll take more than that to -" She was cut off by a whooshing sound behind her. She dodged to the left reflexively while turning to see the threat, having sensed something attacking from behind.

A Mightyena flew right past her face, a blur of black and grey. The Bite Pokemon landed on the ground with a slight skid, having temporarily lost her balance from missing Sapphire. Almost immediately, however, she spun around to face the trainer with teeth bared and in a battle crouch.

Sapphire did the same, pointed canines showing as she grinned from the sudden adrenaline in being attacked. "Nana, right?" she asked, smirking.

The Mightyena only responded by taking a few threatening pawsteps towards her.

"Weird," Sapphire continued, seemingly unfazed. "Bein' the sissy that he is, I would've thought he -" She suddenly flipped backwards and to the left again as she heard the first chuck of ice fall, narrowly dodging a sphere of light blue that exploded and burst into an icy white cloud once it made contact with the ground, directly in front of where she had just been standing.

Sapphire could feel the chilliness released from the attack even now, as she landed on the ground sideways. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see a mint-green blur shaped like a cumulonimbus cloud. In the center of the blur, she could just make out a purple, spherical head.

"I knew it," Sapphire announced proudly, even as chucks of ice fell out of the sky and smacked against her skin and clothes rather hard. "Can't be fair now, can ya, Ruby? Well, try takin' me on now!" She tossed a pokeball into the air with a battle cry, releasing her Blaziken.

Toro let out a loud screech, arms bent back and chest puffed out.

"Let's go, Toro!" Sapphire called out, jumping into the air and spinning for a roundhouse kick at Popo, the Castform who had caused it to start hailing and morphed into Snowy Forme. "Sky Uppercut on Nana!" she commanded, slamming the Castform straight into the ground before the Pokemon could react. As a result, the hail came to an abrupt halt and Popo changed back into Normal Forme.

With a determined nod, the Blaziken dove downwards towards Nana with a fist extended, who leapt back and seemed to glance in the direction she had come from before unleashing a point-blank Hyper Beam while still in the air.

There was a crash as Toro slammed into the base of a tree, leaves shaken off from the force of the collision and drifting downwards. There was a small furrow in the ground leading from where the Blaziken had originally been.

Nana panted heavily, wincing at the energy loss from the Hyper Beam. It certainly didn't help the Dark-Type out when Sapphire kneed her in the side, sending the Pokemon skidding along the ground for about a foot before finally coming to a stop. Nana whined and didn't bother trying to get up again. The Hyper Beam had taken too much out of her for the moment.

"Toro?" Sapphire called out worriedly towards her Blaziken, which was still hunched over by the tree base. The Fire- and Fighting-Type glanced up weakly and raised a fist, signifying that it was okay for the moment.

She let out a relieved breath and walked over to where Nana had been crouching earlier, blue eyes narrowed. Sapphire scanned the area from her position and, after a silent moment, suddenly darted towards a patch of bushes a few meters away.

There was a crash and much rustling of the bushes before Sapphire came back out, dragging Ruby behind her. He was flailing in a vain attempt to free himself. "Let me go, Sapph!" he cried out. "You're getting dirt and grass and Arceus knows what else all over my clothes! And they were just washed this morning, too."

Sapphire pulled Ruby up with a grunt, high enough that his shoes were barely brushing the ground. She glared at him with narrowed, burning blue eyes.

"Ruby," she growled. "You were here all this time? And ya planned to ambush me, too. I already told ya; I'm not goin' to the mall with ya, Ruby."

The boy in question looked at Sapphire with pleading, soulful eyes even as he struggled in the air to break free from her grasp. "Please, Sapph?" Ruby asked, his voice a little choked from being held up by the upper part of his shirt. "I already promised I wouldn't dress you up like the last few times," he reminded.

Sapphire glowered at him. "An' like the last few times, I bet yer lyin'."

"Fine then," Ruby said with a scowl. "If you come with me to go shopping -" Here, he paused for dramatic effect. "- I promise I'll confess."

Needless to say, Sapphire was thoroughly surprised. Enough that she almost dropped Ruby before tightening her girp again. She looked at him suspiciously, eyes narrowed. This was too easy. "If yer bein' serious, tell me now and I'll go to the mall with ya," she demanded.

"No. I'm only telling after we leave the mall."

"Tell me now, Ruby, or you can go shoppin' without me. And with even dirtier clothes than they are now, too."

Despite this threat, Ruby managed to smirk. "Then you'll never hear the words come out of my mouth," he promised grimly.

Sapphire scoffed, but she knew better than to doubt him. If Ruby had kept silent about it for this long already, he could certainly keep silent for even longer. How much longer, she didn't know, but Sapphire didn't want to take any chances. "Fine," she replied in reluctant agreement, letting Ruby fall to the ground.

He managed to land on two feet, however, and tried in vain to smooth out the new wrinkles in his shirt. He got most of the dirt and leaves off, though.

"But," Sapphire added with a warning tone, "if it turns out ya lied, yer ass is gettin' kicked all the way to the Battle Frontier."

* * *

This day so far was one of the most boring days Sapphire had ever suffered.

Ruby had dragged her to the mall and went to all of the fancy schmancy clothing places first. She reluctantly trailed behind him as he fawned over all the pretty clothing and bought a bunch of costumes and accessories for his Pokemon because he thought they were cute and beautiful. Sapphire thought they were eyesores and barf-tastic, as well as something only a sissy would buy.

_It's a good thing Ruby is one, then,_ she thought.

She could have sworn that had they stayed in one place for too long, Ruby would have had to pay for damages, he was drooling so much. Sapphire really didn't understand how her little kiddie self could have enjoyed wearing clothes like these.

There were a few close calls when it came to trying on or buying some of the stuff for her.

In one Arceus-forsaken formal clothing store - Sapphire didn't pay attention to what the place had been called - it had a bunch of frilly and lacey girly dresses like what she had worn back when she was five or something. They were all sissy colors like pink and white and light blue. She would take dark green or black any day.

Ruby had snatched one of the more... fluffy dresses off of the rack it was hanging on and studied it for a moment before turning to Sapphire with a hopeful smile on his face.

A single glare from her and a held-up fist killed that expression and Ruby reluctantly placed back on the rack.

A couple of stores later and Sapphire found herself staring blankly at glittering jewelry behind large glass cases as Ruby chatted animatedly with the shop manager about which gems looked the prettiest paired up with certain clothing styles.

It was all girly stuff they were talking about, so she wasn't really paying attention at all. It took about three snaps and a hand waving in her face before she blinked and turned to look at Ruby.

"Do you like this?" he asked, pointing at a pretty set of sapphire jewelry, just like her name.

She wasn't sure if he was talking about the earrings, the giant necklace, or the whole damned thing, but Sapphire was a bit touched that Ruby actually thought they might look good on her. But they were also extremely impractical for an in-the-field research assistant like her and altogether too sissy-like for her taste, so she shook her head and they soon moved on.

Ruby then dragged her over to a store that sold a bunch of shiny high-heeled shoes. Sapphire almost immediately insisted to him that the shininess was hurting her eyes and they needed to leave right now before they were damaged permanently.

He only rolled his eyes and then proceeded to gush over a pair of bright red shoes with heels so high, Sapphire wondered how anyone could walk in shoes like that without tripping and breaking their leg.

Sure, there were also some okay sneakers that might have worked out for her whenever she needed to give chase or sneak up on some Pokemon, but they were, for the most part, too brightly colored. Sapphire checked the price tags of the ones that weren't and began to back away slowly from the shelves.

There was no way she was going to let Ruby know she liked them. 30000 PKD? No. Just... no.

And then something exciting happened.

Sapphire became the one to drag Ruby out of the store. She spotted a place that sold outdoors stuff as she ignored Ruby's struggling and was debating with herself whether to drag her 'friend' in there to look at it or not when Sapphire heard a girly shriek that almost made her choke on the pure sissiness radiating from the scream.

"Oh my Arceus, it's Ruby!" a girl about twelve years old shouted, squealing as she jumped up and down. Pulling out her Pokegear, she quickly aimed it at them and snapped some pictures. "I have to let everyone know!"

Ruby suddenly froze in his squirming. "Oh crap. Sapphire, we have to get out of here before it's too late."

She let go of his arm, turning to look at him with an amused smirk. Sapphire had already figured out who the girl was. Or rather, what her problem was. "I never thought I'd hear ya say ya wanted to avoid fans," she said. "I thought more fans means more people to vote for ya."

"That's not it," Ruby said fearfully, now glancing around frantically. "You know how Green has a crazed fangirl club?"

Sapphire stared at him blankly for a moment before his words sunk in. "Aw crap," she said, repeating Ruby's words. "Ya don't - ?"

The faint sounds of screaming and squeals could now be heard echoing though the mall. Most of the random shoppers nearby looked around in confusion before shrugging it off and continuing on their way.

"Yes, Sapph, I do! Now let's go, before they start trying to tear my clothes off!" Ruby exclaimed, grabbing Sapphire's hand and running down the large hall, away from where the shrieks were coming from. She stumbled for a moment in surprise before catching herself and began to run alongside him.

Any other time, Sapphire would be mentally celebrating the fact that Ruby was willingly holding her hand. But this wasn't exactly a good time. She could hear the screams growing louder as they ran, dashing between people holding bags of stuff and dodging them as best they could. Unfortunately, this was also slowing them down. Ruby gritted his teeth, realizing that they weren't fast enough to escape the horde completely.

Sapphire glanced back, able to make out some of the shrieks now.

"Ruby! Can you sign my shirt?"

"Ruby, I love your Contest skills!"

"Ruby! Can I be your girlfriend?"

And so on. Sapphire shuddered at the last one, looking forward again so she could see where they were going. Why did this mall have to be so large? Why had she never learned of her friend's new fangirl club before now? She asked the latter aloud.

Ruby was breathing hard now, beginning to slow down. They had already been running at maximum speed, and Ruby wasn't exactly an athlete like her. He was also holding several shopping bags filled with stuff. Sapphire started tugging on his hand to prompt him to go faster.

"Not. A good. Time, Sapph," he panted, stumbling to keep up. "We have. To escape. Before they. Overtake us!"

"I think it's too late for that, Ruby," Sapphire replied grimly. She had glanced back again and had been startled at the sight. "Look."

Ruby glanced back as well and muttered under his breath, "Arceus save us."

In the distance, a huge mob of girls, ages ranging from ten to fifteen, approached as they stampeded through the hall like a herd of Tauros. Several of them were waving pens in the air, while others had their Pokegears out. A few were even wearing hats like Ruby's. All of them were clearly Ruby fangirls gone rabid.

"Look! It's Ruby over there!"

"Oh Arceus! Ruby, I need to ask you something!"

"Hey, who's that girl he's holding hands with?!"

At the last sentence, Sapphire and Ruby both simultaneously looked down at their hands, knuckles white from grasping the other's so tightly. She was immediately filled with the urge to let go, but this was a life-or-death situation and they couldn't lose each other.

"How did they see dat? From so far away?" Sapphire exclaimed with a pant, still tugging Ruby along. Though it was a bit more like dragging now, and Ruby plus bags of bought stuff equaled heavy.

"Not. Important!" Ruby breathed out, studying the area ahead. Suddenly, he could spot an exit in the distance. Salvation. "Ahead! An exit!"

Sapphire looked ahead as well, spotting the same glass double-doors before glancing back at the horde of crazy fangirls. They were even closer than last time, enough that she could almost make out their faces. "We ain't gonna reach it! Follow ma lead, Ruby!" She started to edge over farther to her side of the hall, pulling Ruby along with her.

Glancing back as soon as they reached the far side, she realized with relief that none of them had seemed to notice. They were too busy focusing on trying to catch Ruby.

Sapphire scanned the line of stores they were approaching, finally spotting a clothing store that looked like it would have poofy dresses. "Come on!" she panted, jerking her head at the store ahead. The loss of breath was making her accent come out, stronger than usual. "At de count of three. Dart in dere as fast. As ya can! So the girls behind us. Won't see it!"

Ruby nodded in reply, too out of breath to speak.

"One. Two. Three!" Sapphire yanked on Ruby's hand, him trying desperately to hold on to his bags as she quickly tumbled into the fancy store. She hurriedly pulled Ruby with her underneath the nearest rack of giant fluffy dresses she could find, ignoring the strange looks the other customers gave them.

Thankfully, they were all either adults or non-Ruby fangirls, since they soon returned to their business, only glancing occasionally at the clothes they had dived beneath before forgetting about them.

The two sat there in tense silence for a few moments, their heavy breathing the only sound among the gigantic dresses surrounding them. Soon enough, they could hear the mob of crazed fangirls pass by the store, still screaming things about Ruby. Several seconds later, the sounds of running feet began to fade away and both Sapphire and Ruby visibly relaxed.

Once the noise of the fangirl horde disappeared completely, they looked at each other with relieved smiles before letting out wheezing laughter caused by the receding nervousness. They still hadn't caught much of their breath.

"Never," Sapphire managed to speak, "take me to the mall again."

**. . .**

A woman was about to take a dress off of one of the racks when she suddenly heard what sounded like someone choking. Jumping back in surprise, she started to step away slowly before rushing off to another part of the store.

She never came to that specific shop again.

* * *

"Why did we go to the mall when ya know ya have a fanclub like that?" Sapphire asked as she and Ruby were flying back to Littleroot Town on Pilo.

Ruby huffed in annoyance, though it was at the thought of those rabid fangirls and not at Sapphire's question. "It was Tuesday," he replied, "and in the morning, too. I didn't expect any of those girls to be there."

Sapphire shrugged as the small town appeared in the distance. "Well, you expected wrong," she said. Glancing back at him, she commented, "I didn't think ya'd get a group of crazy girls like that, Ruby." She smirked in amusement.

Pilo began lowering himself down, having reached a clearing near the group of buildings.

"I didn't either," Ruby replied simply, waiting until Pilo landed with a thud before jumping down onto the grass. Setting down his shopping bags, he brushed his clothes off of stray dust and tried once again to get rid of the wrinkles. He failed.

Sapphire followed close behind, not bothering to land on two feet. She stood up straight again, looking towards him. "Oh, and Ruby. Ya still haven't confessed," she reminded, grinning to herself. She would finally hear him admit what he had said himself so long ago during the Groudon and Kyogre disaster.

He had bent down to pick up his stuff again and was now glancing at her. "Confessed?" Ruby asked, raising his eyebrows as his face took on a confused expression.

Sapphire scowled at him as she tapped her foot impatiently. "Yeah, _confessed. _Ya said that you would tell me after we came back from the mall." She couldn't believe it. Ruby had lied again.

He frowned for a moment, brow furrowed, before his face lit up in remembrance. "Oh yes. I did tell you that."

She blinked in surprise at how easy it had been, then watched him with narrowed eyes for any sign of him reneging on his promise. "Good. Now spit it out," Sapphire demanded.

"Right. I confess -" Ruby took in a breath, pausing for dramatic effect. "- that I stole 200 PDK from you once to buy a pokeball," he said rapidly, an expectant grin on his face.

"What?" was the first thing Sapphire said after a moment of pure disbelief, staring blankly at... nothing.

"I have now fulfilled my promise. Bye!" Ruby called out to her, having already dashed off and was now several yards away. He tossed out a pokeball in front of him, releasing his Mightyena, and jumped on in desperation to get away. "Let's go, Nana! Run as fast as you can and I promise I won't ride you again!" They sped away into the trees, his shopping bags flapping in the wind.

Sapphire roared in anger, leaping back onto her Tropius. "Ruby! I'm gonna kill ya for lyin' to me! Follow him, Pilo!"

Pilo lifted off with a flap of his giant, leafy wings, and Sapphire flew off after a fleeing Ruby, cursing at him in rage.

* * *

**Once again, concrit (constructive critism) would be nice, especially if you point out any OOCness. If there is, I would like it if you could be specific about it so I can correct it the next time I write about them.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~ Melody**


	5. Amnesiac

**Disclaimer: Pokémon Adventures is not mine.**

**Time it takes place: First 8****th**** of August after GSC**

**Featured ship: Red & Yellow (clashes during the story with MangaPokéShipping) **

**In honor of Red's birthday, albeit a week late. Fail for me. X-X Also inspired by the 2005 character poll announcement that Red and Yellow were lovers.**

**Consider this one separate from the other Red & Yellow fics I will be writing unless I say differently. This one is mostly for fun, though for some reason this one-shot just feels off to me. Maybe I just suck at writing amnesia. Or Yellow. Or Misty. Or maybe all three, I don't know. I'm actually suspecting that I had to fight through minor writer's block to try and get this in on time.**

* * *

Yellow sat in a hospital room, fidgety as she listened to the nurse list possible post-concussion symptoms. At first, it was the typical dizziness and nausea, so she kind of spaced out as she stared at an unconscious Red, who was lying in a bed with the covers pulled up. There were clean white bandages wrapped around his head. The small table beside him was piled with several presents, all red-themed. But then a certain word caught her attention.

"Amnesia?" she blurted out, attracting the attention of everyone else in the room. Namely, they were the rest of the Kanto Pokédex Holders and Johto Dex Holders as well as the nurse.

"Well, yes," the nurse said. "Depending on the severity of the concussion as well as the patient's own health, he might have temporary amnesia. It's the same for how long it might take him to recover from that symptom. Usually, it's around…"

The nurse's voice faded away as Yellow began to think deeply in worry. _Amnesia? But that would mean he wouldn't remember anything. He would forget everything that had happened to us so far._

She bit her lip nervously, remembering what had happened to get things this way.

Red and Gold had still been training on Mt. Silver. The others – more specifically, Blue – had decided to surprise Red on his birthday. They had all thought it was a great idea, except for Green – but of course, Blue made him comply – so they climbed up Mt. Silver with presents in hand only to find Pika scurrying down the mountain in panic. And looking for help.

It turned out that Red and Gold had gotten caught in an avalanche while they were traveling in between training spots, so they didn't have any Pokémon out to protect them. Other than Pika and Explotaro, of course, for the typical wild Pokémon ambush. Gold had gotten out relatively unscathed, but Red…

Red had gotten bashed in the head by one of the larger rocks even as he attempted to escape the avalanche himself. Gold couldn't do any more than release his sudowoodo in an effort to protect both him and Red from the rest of the avalanche. They managed to save him, but the damage was done.

When Yellow and the others with presents in hand had found Gold carrying an unconscious Red with torn pieces of shirt wrapped around the Champion's bleeding head, they had rushed him to the hospital. And so here they were now.

"… Yellow? Yellow?" There was a hand waving in front of her face. She blinked and looked up at the frowning face of Green.

"The nurse wants to know if there's anyone close to Red besides us who would want to be informed of this accident," Green said, ignoring the frantic gestures of Blue clearly trying to say 'No, wait, shut up'. "None of us can think of anyone, so what about you?"

Yellow sighed. She wasn't one for lying. "Misty would want to know," she mumbled.

"Thanks, Yellow." Green then informed the nurse to call Misty, the Gym Leader of Cerulean City.

While those two were talking, Blue discreetly stepped over to stand by Yellow. She was scowling at Green's back. "He's so insensitive," Blue remarked, whispering. "He's obviously seen the strain between you and Misty, but he asks you anyway. All of us know about her relationship with Red –"

"Please don't remind me," Yellow interrupted, looking down at the ground gloomily.

As the sounds of Gold trying to flirt with the nurse and then groaning as Crystal punched him faded into background noise, she remembered what had been the cause of her recent depression.

Red may have been constantly training with Gold up on Mt. Silver since the Masked Man fiasco in Johto, but that didn't mean he never came down every once in a while. Red had never gotten to return Erika's Pokégear, so he left Gold training by himself for a few hours and headed to Celadon City to find her.

None of them, not even Gold or Blue, knew exactly what had happened during those few hours at Celadon City, but something big changed. At first, Red just returned to Mt. Silver acting like usual and continued to train Gold. But then about a week later, he had to go somewhere for the night and left Gold to his own devices.

This happened once more before Gold had managed to pry the truth out of Red: he was going out on dates with Misty.

The next time Gold had free time to come down from Mt. Silver, he called every single one of the Dex Holders and informed them of this new Red. Needless to say, everyone had experienced varying levels of surprise, even Green. Yellow had been devastated and Blue, being the girl that she was, had known that would happen, so she visited Viridian City that very night and tried to comfort her.

Yellow had tried to avoid Red after that, though she just had to at least visit for his birthday. She still hadn't quite gotten over it.

"Okay, Green, Misty said she would be here as soon as possible," the nurse said, placing the hospital phone back down on its receiver. "Now, can I ask that only the people closest to Red remain in the room? There're too many people in here as it is and a sick person can't rest when there's so much noise and distractions." She gave a pointed look at Gold and Crystal, who were arguing but then shut up when they realized that the nurse had noticed.

Silver suddenly spoke up, and everyone besides Blue and Green suddenly noticed that they had forgotten he was there at all. "We should go, Gold. Crys, too. We haven't known Red for that long anyway."

Crystal nodded. "Right." She glared at Gold almost as an afterthought and then grabbed the boy's wrist. She dragged him out of the room, ignoring his complaints of "You don't need to drag me!" and "I would've left by myself!" Silver followed them, looking both amused and exasperated.

The nurse smiled in satisfaction and said, "I'll be leaving too. If you need me, just call." She nodded at the alarm button on the TV remote before exiting the room.

Green leaned against the wall where he could see Red easily, crossing his arms. After a few moments, he said simply, "You know Misty wouldn't have liked it if we didn't tell her what had happened."

"But why did you have to get Yellow to say so?" Blue replied with a scowl, not seeming surprised that he had heard them.

Green didn't answer for a while. "Yellow is the one who has to get over it."

Yellow just stared silently into her lap, her straw hat hiding her face so they wouldn't see her grimacing.

* * *

After about half an hour just staying like that, silent, someone opened the door a crack and Gold poked his head inside.

"The nurse wants you guys to have these socks," he said, tossing a bundle of blue and white into the room. Yellow saw it land by Red's bed out of the corner of her eyes before glancing up to look at Gold. "She said that if Red wakes up and needs to walk somewhere, he needs to put those socks on. Something about fall protection and grips or whatever." He closed the door again and they all exchanged looks showing varying levels of confusion before returning to watching Red.

Eventually, there was a groan from the bed as Red woke up, pushing the blankets off of him. Yellow's head shot up as she gasped, her hat almost flying off from the sudden speed.

"Red?" Green asked slowly. "How do you feel?"

"My head's pounding. Ow. Where are we?"

"We're at a hospital in Viridian City," Green explained. "You got caught in an avalanche up on Mt. Silver and we brought you back here." He hesitated before asking, "How much can you remember?"

"Umm… Not much. I guess I can remember a mountain… But that's it."

They all sighed. The nurse had told them it was possible, especially with such a bad concussion, but they had all been hoping, Yellow especially, that Red's memories at least would be perfectly fine. Instead, they just had their hopes dashed by those few words.

"Anything else?"

"Uh…"

There was a knock at the door. Blue glanced at Yellow, knowing who it probably was. Yellow just absently waved a hand like she was saying "Go ahead" and Blue opened the door, letting in Misty.

Red saw her come in and suddenly jerked his head towards her, muttering "Ow" as he did so. "I remember that girl. Her name was something like… um… Well I know it started with an 'S'… Or was it an 'F'…?"

"Red!" Misty exclaimed, hugging him as best as she could while he was lying in a bed. "Are you okay?"

"Watch the head, watch the head…" Red said weakly, trying and failing to squirm out of her grasp. He winced at the hugging. "Who are you again?"

Misty frowned, letting go of him. "Wait, you don't remember me?" She looked at Green questioningly and in worry. "What's wrong?"

"He has temporary amnesia, apparently," Green said dryly after a moment. "Not like his memory was that great to begin with, but this poses a big problem. We have to figure out how to get his old self back faster. Red has responsibilities, no matter how incompetent he may be at them."

"Shut up, Green," Red suddenly snapped, then blinked. "Wait…"

"Ah, it worked," Green said, smiling slightly. "I remembered something about emotional stimuli and things from past experiences helping with memory loss, so –"

"So you tried to get him angry," Blue finished. Realization dawned on her face. "I have the perfect thing. I'll go make them really quick." She hurried out of the room, frowning in thought.

Yellow waved awkwardly at Misty from the chair she sat in. "Hi, Misty. How are the Gym challenges?" she asked hesitantly.

Misty looked surprised, as if she hadn't noticed Yellow was in the room. "Oh, well, they're going okay. Most of the trainers who challenged me weren't up to the task." She smirked slightly. "They weren't that hard. Only a few of them actually managed to win my badge."

Yellow nodded, silent. She kept glancing at Red, who was opening some of the presents.

The Cerulean Gym Leader sighed. "What's really wrong, Yellow?" she asked.

Yellow bit her lip, looking away as soon as Red opened her own present: a cute plushie that looked like a pikachu. "N-nothing," she lied, seeing Red start glancing around frantically out of the corner of her eyes.

Misty crossed her arms. "Just trust me, Yellow," she said. "We've known each other for a while, right? I even gave you the omanyte that became your omastar." She gestured to the belt Yellow wore, holding her pokéballs.

She stared in her lap for a moment before asking quietly, "What if Red never gets his memories back?" It wasn't exactly what was troubling Yellow, but it was close enough for Misty to accept it.

"If he never does, then we'll just have to replace his old memories with better ones," Misty said. Then she smiled. "But that's not going to happen. He will get his memories back; I know it."

"Where's Pika?" Red suddenly said, looking almost panicky. He clutched the pikachu plushie in a death grip. "Where is he?"

Yellow managed to smile a little. "He's right there," she said, pointing at the pokéballs lying beside the hospital phone on another table. Pika was indeed in one of them, looking at her desperately while pounding on the plastic case. "The nurse said that Pokémon shouldn't be out in the hospital room, but I think she'll make an exception this time. You won't be able to reach. Let me get it for you." But she didn't stand up from her chair. She closed her eyes, holding a hand out towards the pokéball.

Pika's pokéball wobbled for a moment before rolling across the small table. It rolled right over the edge and fell to the floor.

Yellow frowned, her brow furrowing in concentration.

The pokéball wobbled again, but this time it began to rise up into the air. Ever so slowly, it continued until Yellow's energy gave out and it clattered back to the floor. Instead of attempting the floating again, she just mentally pressed the opening mechanism.

Pika burst out of the ball, leaping onto the bed and into Red's lap. He squeaked cheerfully and scrambled up to his usual position by his trainer's head, nuzzling his cheek gently. "Pikaaa!"

Red chuckled and rubbed his pikachu between the ears like he always did. "I missed you too, Pika. I can't believe I couldn't remember you until I saw this plushie." He held it out in front of him and showed it to Pika, who huffed and prodded it with a paw skeptically.

Yellow let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "I've been trying to practice my telekinesis like Green suggested," she admitted, "but I guess I haven't gotten that good yet." She yawned, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "And now I'm exhausted."

Blue suddenly burst in, carrying something weird. It was a small Pokémon-sized headband with tiny wings on the sides and studded with small spikes. She also held other accessories in her arms that matched the helmet.

"Wow, your pikachu looks so powerful," she praised, holding the accessories out to him. "If only you had some Pokémon items like these. They could make your Pokémon even stronger!"

Yellow and Misty glanced at each other, both confused.

Pika eyed Blue for a second, but then she winked at him and Pika understood what she was doing.

Red looked skeptical. "I'm sure they work well, lady, but –"

"You don't want my items?" Blue said, giving Red her patented puppy-eyes.

"…" Red stared blankly at her for a moment.

"Oh, you know what?" Blue exclaimed, tossing the items aside. "Let's try this for a change." She quickly riffled through Red's pockets before he could do anything and snatched his wallet, waving it in front of his face. "Ha!"

"Hey!" Red shouted, trying to take it back. Blue stuck out her tongue and kept moving the wallet away from his hands. "Give it back! Stop messing with me, Blue!"

"That's the magic word," she said, tossing the wallet into his lap. Red blinked in surprise. "I can't believe you seriously just called me 'lady'. I am clearly not a lady, Red. Or did you forget about me?" Blue teased, grinning as she mimicked Red's earlier movements by rubbing Pika between the ears.

"I guess I did," Red eventually admitted, scratching an unbandaged part of his head in embarrassment. "Amnesia is not fun. Who knows what else I can't remember?"

"Well, my job here is done," Blue said, picking the fake Pokémon items up from the floor. "He remembers my name now. Guess it's time for the others' turn. I'll bring the Johto guys in." She left, humming.

Misty smiled. "See, Yellow? It's already working."

"I guess so," Yellow replied, trying to bring her hopes up. But Yellow couldn't help but have doubts about whether or not Red might remember her.

**. . .**

The Johto Dex Holders entered soon after and succeeded in getting Red to remember them too. Yellow couldn't quite recall what they had done to get Red to remember them, since she kept dozing off, but it had something to do with Gold messing around and more arguing. Apparently, that was all it took. They must have been memorable.

Of course, Red didn't remember _everything_ about them. But their names and a few choice events were enough for them. For the moment, at least. The only people who were present and left to be remembered were Yellow and Misty.

"Why don't we let Yellow go first?" Blue suggested. "She is an honorary Pokédex Holder and Red still doesn't even recognize Yellow, unlike you, Misty."

Red nodded at this in agreement, not seeming to catch the implications that Yellow was a girl. "He doesn't seem familiar to me at all."

Misty sighed. However much she wanted to be first, she couldn't see any reason in arguing. "Of course. It's alright then."

"Can I be alone? While I'm trying to get Red to remember me, that is," Yellow interrupted, jolted out of her half-asleep daze by this talk. She was blushing slightly.

"Aw," Gold said in a fake sweet voice. "Does Yellow want to – ow!"

"It's no problem, Yellow," Crystal assured her, having cut Gold off by kicking him in the shin. "If you need us, we'll be waiting outside, right Gold?" She glared at him pointedly and the boy shrugged in response. "Sure, whatever."

They left, Green close behind. He glanced back at Red for a moment – who saluted with a smile – before exiting, leaving the door open for Silver. Silver grabbed the doorknob before the door could close by itself. "Are you coming, sis?" he asked, looking back at them.

"Just a moment, Silver," Blue replied. She stepped to stand in front of Yellow and bent down slightly to come face-to-face with her. "Remember, if all else fails, reveal the contents of the hat." She tapped the young girl's straw hat before standing up straight and leaving the room with Silver.

"The contents of the hat?" Red asked. Pika chittered in private amusement from where he perched by the hospital phone. Once it was clear that Yellow wasn't going to reply, he tried a different tack. "So, your name's Yellow, right?"

Yellow nodded, now standing up. She was staring at the floor in nervousness, her exhaustion virtually nonexistent now as it was pushed away by adrenaline. It felt like there were butterfrees in her stomach from what she was planning to do. "Yes."

"It's weird," Red continued. "It's like I can almost remember you, like you're on the tip of my tongue, but something's off. Like the person I had memories of isn't quite you. Does that make sense…Yellow?" he asked, hesitantly trying out her name.

"Yes, it does." Yellow continued to study the floor, trying to build up courage. She was thankful that her hat hid her face.

"Well then…" Red watched her curiously. "What are you going to do?"

In answer, Yellow silently walked closer to Red's bed and took off her hat. Her waist-length blonde ponytail fell out from within.

Red blinked, silent for a while. Then he finally said, "So you're a girl."

Yellow nodded her head mutely, afraid to speak. It felt like having to take off her hat for the feathers all over again.

She took in a deep breath. It was time to do what she had decided to do as soon as they had discovered Red had amnesia. Yellow had to, since the concussion had given her a chance to confess before Red fell in love with Misty. Because if he had fallen for another girl the first time, what could possibly change it? She just wanted to make sure Red knew before choosing Misty again.

"Yes, Red. I'm a girl," Yellow whispered, unable to hold back a soft chuckle. "Like you already discovered for yourself while we were fighting the Masked Man in Johto. Do you remember?"

Red stayed silent, apparently because he was trying to remember.

"Well, the thing is…" She gulped, suddenly unsure about her convictions. _Maybe I should do this some other time. Do I really have to now? _Yellow gritted her teeth. _Yes, I do! If I wait, it might be too late. If not, then better sooner than later, right?_ She hoped she wasn't about to mess this up.

She steeled herself. "The thing is, Red… I like you. A lot." She let out a breath, relieved that she had gotten it out. But her job wasn't over yet. "Ever since I first went searching for you a year ago when you went missing."

Red's eyes widened, but he still didn't say anything. Maybe out of shock.

Yellow drew in another deep breath. "But then you started going out with Misty. You could imagine how that... might make me feel." She laughed a bit, but it sounded forced to her.

"But look what happened." She fiddled with her straw hat, staring at the ground. "You have temporary amnesia. You'll get all of your memories back – you've already gotten back plenty – but where will that leave me?" Yellow bit her lip, unable to believe her thoughts. "So I decided, maybe once, that…" Her voice trailed off. The words wouldn't come out of her mouth.

_Suck it up, Yellow, as Gold – or maybe Blue – might say. You want to do this. So do it. Move!_ She chanced a glance at Red, who looked a bit pale at the big confession Yellow had just given him, before moving towards where he lay in his bed, slightly propped up. She tried to hurry before her courage gave out and quickly bent down to kiss him on the cheek.

Except she had miscalculated from her extreme anxiety and exhaustion. First, the bed was actually lower than Yellow had realized, absorbed in her thoughts as she had been. Second, she had forgotten that the socks that Gold had thrown into the room were still by the bed, in the perfect place to trip her up.

She slipped on the socks as she quickly stopped by Red's bed. Normally, it would just cause her to fall on her back, but Yellow had been bending down at the same time she stopped in her hurry to get it over with. She slipped, but fell right on top of Red instead, who was too surprised to react.

And as bad luck – or maybe luck – would have it, Yellow's lips landed right on top of Red's lips instead of on his cheek, as she had been planning.

Suffice to say, it shocked the both of them. They remained like that for only about a second or two, but it felt to Yellow like hours. Right when she realized exactly what had happened, a small voice in the back of her mind told her to just go with it, to just keep kissing him like that and make sure everyone else saw it too, especially Misty.

But then Yellow's usual nature kicked in and she immediately broke away, stumbling back from the bed as she gasped for breath. "I-I didn't mean – I – " She kept stuttering and trying to get as far away from Red as possible until her back hit the wall. Her cheeks were a very bright crimson.

Pika simply stared, too surprised to really do anything other than twitch his tail.

Red was gaping like a magikarp, his own face almost as red as Yellow's. Otherwise, he was just as stunned as Pika.

"I-I… I need to go!" Yellow stuck her straw hat back on and hurriedly adjusted it so it would hide her face before racing out of the room. The door soon thumped shut, and there was silence.

"Chuuuu," Pika finally squeaked awkwardly, glancing at Red, who was now opening and closing his mouth like he was trying to say something.

**. . .**

Everyone was startled as Yellow suddenly burst through the door, her face hidden beneath her hat. She ran off farther into the hospital while ignoring everyone's shouts.

"What was that all about?" Gold asked after she had disappeared.

Crystal frowned. "Maybe Yellow failed at getting Red to remember her."

Blue, who had just so happened to have been secretly watching the proceedings through one of the room windows, wisely chose not to say anything.

"Either way, that means it's Misty's turn," Green said, arms crossed. As always, he was leaning against a wall, facing the door. "Go ahead, Misty."

Misty nodded. "Thanks, Green." She opened the door and walked into the room.

* * *

_One hour later…_

Red stared at the ceiling with his hands resting underneath his head. He glanced over at Pika, who had looked at his trainer at the same time.

"Crazy day, huh?" he remarked, to which Pika huffed in reply. _Obviously._ Red shrugged and returned to staring at the ceiling.

The hospital required him to stay for at least one more night before leaving the following afternoon, as long as everything checked out. The rest of the guys had left, since they all were busy in some way and didn't really have the time to stay in the hospital and watch Red when he could take care of himself.

Besides, Pika was watching him and apparently that was enough for tonight and, he assumed they had thought, for the rest of the week once he was released from the hospital and allowed to recover at home. After all, they were busy.

Red fiddled with the new Pokégear Crystal had gotten him before placing it back on the table with the other unwrapped presents.

Blue had brought him a pair of opal earrings and a matching necklace. At first, he had been extremely confused, especially with the amnesia. But the note that came along with it said: _Hope the girl you give this to likes it! – Blue._ So Blue had gotten him a gift to give to another person. Well then.

Green had given him the Earth Badge. After Red had remembered a few important events, he smiled at what his old rival had been thinking of and stuck it with the rest of his badges. He now had all eight Kanto Gym Badges. _Should be useful._

Silver's gift had been a Thunderstone, surprisingly enough. Red had offered it to Pika, but the electric-type declined and he knew somehow that Pika would forever want to stay a pikachu. He decided to keep the Thunderstone anyway, just in case.

Gold had given him a Miracle Seed. After asking him, Red had learned that Miracle Seeds boost grass-type moves. He had shrugged and decided to keep it on hand. Saur might like it.

Red squeezed his last present, a pikachu plushie. He had figured out it was Yellow's present. She had never come back after running off, so he found out by himself through process of elimination. He thought it was pretty ironic that if you pull the plushie's tail, it makes a squeaking sound since that was exactly what Pika did when someone pulled his tail, except an electric shock came with it.

"Getting kissed by two girls in one day, huh," Red mused. "Maybe I should get amnesia more often."

Pika huffed again, rolling his eyes.

* * *

**Oh my gosh, the fluff. It's killing me. I put in way too much fluff. e3e I'm also anxious about the fact that this story just feels so off and rushed to me. Maybe I should take a break from Red & Yellow fics for a bit.**

**Feedback and suggestions would be nice, guys. I can't come up with stuff by myself all the time. Till the next update!**

**~ Melody**


End file.
